Research+Portfolio

The work presented in this portfolio demonstrates a focused progression of ideas concerning mobile/location-based experiences, ubiquitous computing and the spaces of everyday life. It is my intent to show how this progression has transpired and how it leads to the current conceptualization of my dissertation project.  The focus of my work throughout the projects listed below has been to make people aware of the world around them and their role in that world.  I have chosen to use mobile and ubiquitous computing technologies as my medium to design experiences and interactions that connect people to ideas, objects and the built environment in new ways.  Many of these projects have been collaborative efforts and were developed both through coursework and in the Mobile and Environmental Media Lab [MEML] within the Interactive Media Division.

In 2004, Tracking Agama used basic mobile phone technology to encourage users to explore downtown Los Angeles in new ways via an Alternate Reality Game (ARG).  Working against the ideas (at the time) that mobile phone use is both disrupting and isolating in public spaces, Tracking Agama aimed instead to reconnect people to the city through the use of their mobile phones. This project invited participants to look at downtown Los Angeles neighborhoods in new ways while becoming immersed in a fictional narrative that unfolded in real locations.

From here my focus shifted to using mobile phones and web interfaces to make users more aware of their environmental impact.  TerraPed(2007) was conceptualized for a class project in World Building and provides a platform for understanding one’s personal environmental impact and how small changes of habit could make a difference. For Foodprint(2008), I developed a concept for engaging with foods and products in a grocery store or farmers market to make consumers more aware of where their foods come from. Using a mobile phone with a 2d barcode reader, I designed a conceptual interface with which users could scan the food labels they were interested in purchasing to learn the products’ backstory – where the product came from, how it arrived at the market, what its carbon footprint was.

My most recent work has taken place within the Mobile and Environmental Media Lab, for which I was a Research Assistant in 2008-2009 and have continued to focus my research efforts. The work of this lab has thus far taken on two specific forms that embody concepts for The Future of the Story: CityStory, which encourages collaborative, crowd sourced filmmaking; and Million Story Building, which focuses on location-specific and context-aware interactions with the new School of Cinematic Arts building and the objects within, as demonstrated in the StoryObjects project.  The Million Story Building (MSB) project, which is a work in progress, most closely demonstrates the direction I plan to take towards the practical implementation of my dissertation. This project explores the idea of Ambient Storytelling though daily interactions with the SCA building and the objects and artifacts within it.  My goal going forward is to continue this direction in my research, in which interaction between people and physical spaces can become rich storytelling places.

All projects are listed below, starting with my three most recent projects developed in the Mobile and Environmental Media Lab, working down to my first project at USC, Tracking Agama.